Be careful what you wish for. Both Labour and the Conservatives have been desperately hoping to move the spotlight away from hung parliaments so that they can cease their unconvincing contortions over the issue – lovebombing the Lib Dems in one breath and condemning them in the next. Well, that's happened and we are finally back to policy – but for both parties the questions over policy have been every bit as uncomfortable as those over a hung parliament.

The Institue for Fiscal Studies put a plague on all their houses by alleging that no party is being honest about the scale of the cuts needed to meet their deficit reduction plans. That led to an uncomfortable press conference for Labour, with Peter Mandelson struggling to keep order among the hack pack, who were all demanding more detail on Labour's economic plans.

David Cameron, out on the campaign trail had his first "Sharron Storer" moment (remember the lady who accosted Tony Blair about the NHS), and came off the worse from a conversation about mainstream education for disabled children. It's a tricky one this: parents truly disagree about whether special schools or mainstream schools are best for children with special needs. But Cameron was certainly unable to convince Jonathan Bartley that Tory plans would help his disabled son. Elsewhere, a Tory candidate, Philip Lardner, was dropped after making offensive remarks about homosexuality, proving once again that the whiff of homophobia emanating from parts of the Conservative party just won't go away.

Nick Clegg has found, as always, that no one is much interested in his policies, only what he has to say about a future coalition. So his speech to the Royal College of Nurses on Lib Dem health policy was overshadowed by another U turn – which surely makes it a Z-bend – on whether or not he would work with Gordon Brown and/or the Labour party. I think, at the end of three days of switching, he wants to keep all his options open.

Today we can expect the focus on cuts to continue, ahead of the leaders' debate on the economy tomorrow. They all have a lot of explaining to do – some £40bn worth at least. Expect all the party leaders to insist they are the only one being honest while the others have secret plans for devastating cuts. And expect no one to believe any of them. Still, it will be the one who manages to sound the most convincing on this issue who will win Round Three.